The present disclosure relates to a method for detection of specimen region, an apparatus for detection of specimen region, and a program for detection of specimen region, which are intended to detect from an image of the object for observation the specimen region where there exists the specimen for microscopic observation.
It is customary in the field of pathological diagnosis to observe a specimen (such as histologic) under a microscope after staining. Staining is usually accomplished by immersing a specimen in a dye solution specific to a particular histology. A dye of certain type combines with an immunohistology (if it exists in the specimen) to develop a color, thereby allowing the observer to determine the presence or absence of the immunohistology in the specimen.
Among recent developments in this field is the automatic photographing of microscopic images. This technology employs a system that works in two stages. In the first stage, the system photographs the object (such as preparation) for observation with a low magnifying power, thereby acquiring an image of low power. Subsequently, the image of low power undergoes image processing for contour detection. In this way, the system extracts the region for microscopic observation where there exists the specimen. In the second stage, the system photographs the region for microscopic observation through a microscope with a high magnifying power, thereby automatically giving a high-power image of the specimen. The foregoing technology avoids photographing with a high power wastefully most regions where there exist no specimens for observation.
An example of the foregoing system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-175040 (Paragraph [0026] and FIG. 2) (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1). The disclosed system is so designed as to detect “the region for attention” from the photographed pathological image and photograph the region with a high magnifying power, thereby automatically acquiring a high-power pathological image in that region. This system detects the region for attention by using the difference in pixel value (RGB value) of the pathological image.